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White Hunter, Black Heart

1990

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, George Dzundza, Alun Armstrong ...

6.9

9,278

Adventure. Drama Set in 1951, the film begins as film director Wilson (Eastwood) summons an old friend, writer Pete Verrill (Jeff Fahey), to recruit him for his latest project about a hard-drinking boat captain and a schoolmarm who take on the German navy in Africa during WWII. All Wilson really cares about is that the film will give him a fast infusion of cash to put a dent in personal debts totaling a quarter of a million dollars. Even more important, ... [+]

	Media	Author	Review
		Janet Maslin The New York Times	"This material marks a gutsy, fascinating departure for Mr. Eastwood, and makes it clear that his directorial ambitions have by now outstripped his goals as an actor."
		Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"The film is talky and often stilted. But Eastwood's compassion for the character (...) feels genuine."
		Roger Ebert rogerebert.com	"One of the more thoughtful films ever made about the conflicts inside an artist (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"
		Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader	"A devastating portrait of self-deceiving obsession, and a notable improvement on Viertel's book in terms of economy and focus."
		Rita Kempley The Washington Post	"[It] is not about the making of 'The African Queen'. It's Mondo Machismo, Hollywood on safari, a self-aggrandizing epic reeking of man scent."
		Richard Schickel Time	"Especially for those who have pegged Clint Eastwood too quickly as a masculine traditionalist, White Hunter, Black Heart is a movie to conjure with."
		Eric Henderson Slant	"Eastwood reaching a peak in the fields of both film direction and acting (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Mark Cooper Empire	"Walking a fine line between being a masterpiece and a dogs dinner, this movie strays into the latter, though giving some historical illumination to the movie-making process as it was in the 1950s (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"
		Geoff Andrew Time Out	"Eastwood constructs a marvellously pacy, suspenseful movie which is deceptively easy on both eye and ear."
		Variety Staff Variety	"An intelligent, affectionate study of an obsessive American film director."
		Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"As Huston, Eastwood is so out of his depth he seems to have lost his entertainer’s instinct, not to mention his modesty."
		Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Eastwood seems to be having the time (...) The New Hollywood, to which [the director's] mournful artistry belongs, comes off as a cinematic phoenix."

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